Letterman was tasteless, Palin was no better
Joke about daughter getting knocked up wasn't about minor
E-mailer Tommy Barquinero writes: "Mr. Roeper, what are your thoughts on this David Letterman-Sarah Palin controversy? Please tell me you are on the side of the King of Late Night. Letterman's jokes were indeed edgy (and hilarious, I might add), but to suggest the joke were about the statutory rape of a 14-year-old girl, as Gov. Palin so stupidly insists, is beyond ridiculous. Any reasonable person knows the jokes were about Palin's 18-year-old daughter, Bristol. Sarah Palin should be ashamed of herself for responding in such a self-serving, disingenuous fashion."
This ongoing dust-up started with Letterman making a tasteless joke about Palin and her daughter attending a Yankees game, and the girl getting "knocked up" by Alex Rodriguez.
The Palins demanded an apology, and I don't blame them. But their reaction was as over-the-top as the original joke, with Todd Palin saying, "Any jokes about raping my 14-year-old are despicable."
That's true -- but nobody did that.
Although it was Palin's 14-year-old daughter who attended the game, Dave said, "These are not jokes made about her 14-year-old daughter. I would never, never make jokes about raping or having sex or any description with a 14-year-old girl . . . Yes, maybe these [jokes] are questionable because [the Palin daughter] who actually [got] knocked up is now 18 years old . . . Now, I can't really defend the joke. I agree, unpleasant, ugly."
Indeed: The humor was unpleasant and ugly. Even in the rough-and-tumble monologue world, you don't need to resort to cheap jokes about a teenage girl's pregnancy. Dave's better than that.
But then we get Palin's spokesperson saying, "It would be wise to keep Willow away from David Letterman."
What? Are you seriously suggesting Letterman is a predator?
On "Today," Matt Lauer asked Palin, "Are you suggesting David Letterman can't be trusted around a 14-year-old girl?"
You'd think Palin would respond: "Of course not." Instead, she said, "Take it however you want to take it. It was a comment that came from the heart."
Lauer: "But is that perhaps also not in bad taste, governor?"
Palin: "No, it's not in bad taste."
So it's deplorable to make a joke about a teenage girl's pregnancy, but it's OK to respond to that joke with a clear implication the joke-teller is a sexual predator? Got it.
Palin also decried the "political double standard" that says the Obama family is off-limits but hers isn't. But if your daughter appears on the cover of People magazine, posing in cap and gown while holding her baby for an "exclusive at home with the teen mom," can you turn around and say comments about your family are off-limits? Talk about a double standard.
It's also good to see so many conservative commentators leaping to Team Palin's defense. One assumes they'll remain consistent in their feminism and deplore insensitive jokes made about Hillary Clinton, Michelle Obama, Nancy Pelosi, Sonia Sotomayor . . .
Elsewhere on the apology beat, prominent South Carolina GOPer Rusty DePass responded to a Facebook posting about an escaped gorilla with a post of his own: "I'm sure it's just one of Michelle [Obama]'s ancestors -- probably harmless."
Ugly connotation aside, someone needs to define "ancestor" for DePass.
DePass issued an apology, saying, "I'm sorry as sorry can be if I offended anyone. The comment was clearly in jest." But he also told a South Carolina TV station, "The comment was hers, not mine," claiming the First Lady recently said we are all descendants of apes.
If anyone can find a record of Michelle Obama making such remarks, please let me know.
My favorite local news feature last weekend came from NBC-5's Lauren Jiggetts, reporting on ousted Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich's bizarre cameo appearance in "Rod Blagojevich Superstar," the Second City show that savages Blago.
The report included footage of Blago onstage with his helmet-wigged doppelganger, with Blago asking the audience, "Where were you when I was impeached?"
Jiggetts closed with: "On a totally random note, Blagojevich introduced a friend of his that was in the audience. That person was Fabio, the man that's graced many a romance novel. We're not quite sure what the connection is there."
Amazing pecs, perhaps? Mutual love of the same hair-care products? A shared desire to do "I'm a Celebrity . . . Get Me Out of Here"? The inability to understand the difference between fame and being the butt of an ongoing joke?
The possibilities are limitless.